Reading (and Eating) My Way Around the World

Anguilla

Enjoyment of a particular thing is so subjective. You can love a movie the first time you see it, but view it again in a different mood, or season, or after a bad day…and sometimes your opinion turns the other way.

I find that to be so very true with books. Reading is the most intimate of experiences; it’s interior, and mysterious, and very personal. That’s one of the reasons I pull my punches in book reviews here on The Global Reader; the world is so full of opinions, and while mine are just as valid as anyone else, are they really needed? Does what I think have value for you, or is it just one more voice shouting into the void of relentless content? SO MANY THOUGHTS…

That all said…I didn’t enjoy this book at all. It hurt me to finish it, but I find Anguilla so compelling, I did so out of respect for the place. I found the characters themselves to be interesting, since this is loosely based on real events, but even after many, many, many words streaming past my eyes, I did not get to know them. I wanted to, and was frustrated by the distance. I feel bad writing this, but there you go. Make of it what you will. Would you like it? It would be great if you did! Will I read again it someday, in a different state of mind, to see if I get more out of it? Nope.

On the positive side, it did give me some insight into independence movements in the Caribbean, the start of understanding how labor moves around the region, how different industries affect different islands, and how much history affects life now. Not a bad haul from something that I had to force myself to get through!

An aerial view of the western portion of the island of Anguilla (image by Roy Googin, via Wikpedia)